CALIFORNIA MAN SENTENCED IN FEDERAL MURDER-FOR-HIRE CONSPIRACY INVOLVING UNDERCOVER FBI OPERATION

A Tracy, California man has been sentenced in federal court to more than seven years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire conspiracy that was disrupted by an undercover federal investigation before any physical harm occurred.

Shaminderjit Singh Sandhu, 52, was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to use facilities of interstate commerce in furtherance of a murder-for-hire scheme. The sentence was imposed in the Eastern District of California following a detailed review of evidence documenting months of planning, payments, and direct instructions to carry out a killing.

Court records show that Sandhu conspired with Jagninder Singh Boparai, 49, of Manteca, and Ramesh Kumar Birla Jr., 47, of Dublin, to target an individual identified in court filings as Victim 2. The conspiracy unfolded in early 2023 and relied on the use of mobile communications, in-person meetings, and interstate travel — elements that brought the case squarely under federal jurisdiction.

The plot first surfaced in February 2023, when Boparai met at a Starbucks location in Manteca with a man he believed to be a contract killer. Unbeknownst to the conspirators, the individual was a confidential informant working under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During the initial meeting, Boparai described an ongoing feud and proposed an initial assault to test the informant’s reliability before moving forward with more serious crimes.

The following day, Boparai offered $6,000 for the assault and later provided a $1,000 cash down payment during a meeting attended by Birla and another individual. To maintain the ruse, investigators staged a photograph depicting the supposed victim injured, which was shown to Boparai. According to court filings, Boparai expressed approval of the image and indicated that additional “jobs” were planned, including robbery and a killing intended to leave no trace.

By March 2023, the conspiracy escalated into a full murder-for-hire plan. Boparai paid an additional $10,000 as a down payment and instructed that the intended victim must “disappear” without evidence. Sandhu’s role became more direct at this stage. Prosecutors established that Sandhu provided the victim’s address and participated in operational discussions about how the killing would be carried out.

On March 24, 2023, Sandhu and Birla met with the confidential informant in a parking lot in Manteca to provide further instructions. Although they claimed Boparai was out of town, surveillance showed him remaining nearby in a vehicle. During the meeting, the defendants allegedly instructed that the victim be killed and that the remains be transported to Mexico concealed inside a suitcase — a detail cited by prosecutors as evidence of premeditation and intent to permanently conceal the crime.

Federal authorities arrested all three defendants on March 31, 2023, before any violence occurred. The investigation involved extensive coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across multiple California jurisdictions, reflecting the complexity and seriousness of the conspiracy.

Boparai previously pleaded guilty to the same charge and, in August 2025, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison. Birla remains pending before the court and is scheduled for a further status conference on February 12, 2026. The charges against him remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Federal prosecutors emphasized that murder-for-hire conspiracies are treated with exceptional severity under federal law due to their calculated nature and the use of interstate systems to facilitate violent crime. The Sandhu sentence reflects both the gravity of the offense and the role of proactive law enforcement intervention in preventing loss of life.

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